Visit with Don (aka The General) on various land use issues. Find out what he thinks about current topics related to recreation, land use or the environment.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

OHV and Nature Can Coexist at Carnegie/Tesla?

The Recreation HQ would like to give an update on the East
Bay Regional Park District’s planning effort and how their narrative has
apparently softened a bit when it comes to new OHV use on the Tesla property
which is part of Carnegie SVRA.

I thought the Bay Nature article below did a pretty good job
of weaving through the concept that managed OHV recreation and resource
protection are not mutually exclusive and can and do co-exist on many state and
federal lands.

What appears to be a new era of cooperation between the
District, OHMVR, and user groups would not have happened without thousands of
OHVers and their families showing up at various public meetings and sharing
their views both verbally and in writing with District staff and board members.

I believe the various letters from OHV groups including
BRC’s documents obtained by a public records act request had helped illustrate to
the District that it was engaged in a less than robust quasi-CEQA process with
unclear goals and objectives.

In addition, I feel that the OHV Commission’s interest in
seeing that OHMVRD and the users don’t get railroaded the District’s
public-process - that left out the OHV community as legitimate stakeholders—will
have an important role in new outreach by the District to OHV groups and clubs.

Let’s hope the end result will be mutual cooperation and
respect between the District, OHMVRD, OHV clubs, and environmental groups.We need to be ready to review the draft
policy document when it comes out in January or early February.Mike Anderson, the District’s lead planner,
told me at the Dublin meeting that the public would get a chance to review and
comment on the draft policy document BEFORE it goes to the park board for
approval.

Learn About The General

Don is owner of Quiet Warrior Racing, a recreation, land-use, and political consulting company. Don is also a consultant to the BlueRibbon Coalition and serves as their western representative. Don has over 23 years in the field of recreation and land-use advocacy. Don served as a commissioner on the California Department of Parks and Recreation Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Commission from 1994-2000. Don has also served on many recreation stakeholder groups and advisory committees. Don served on the USDA Region 5 Recreation Resource Advisory Committee (2009 - 2014). Don has a BA from St. Mary’s College of California and belongs to the Society of Outdoor Recreation Professionals.